


Steal a few tomorrows and stay

by reefofhappiness



Series: These last few connections [1]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-05
Updated: 2011-07-05
Packaged: 2017-10-21 01:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/219318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reefofhappiness/pseuds/reefofhappiness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Charles has managed to find the right words to make a difference, that difference is more than just making Eric stay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steal a few tomorrows and stay

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Lee Brice’s ‘These Last Few Days’. This is really just an teaser introduction to a larger piece I'm working on set in the same alternate ending universe.

In Cuba the air is humid and suffocating that night, and Charles wonders if Erik means what he says, that this can be figured out, that he is happy, holding Charles close in their tiny room.

The walls are thin, Moira’s murmurs over the phone next door sound as though she is in the same room as them and the children’s whispering in the other room over is just as loud, but everyone is simply thankful for the shelter after such a crazy day. Charles wants to say _I’m so glad you stayed, I almost lost you_ but can’t, because the instant those words hit the air he’s afraid the winds will change again and suddenly Erik _will_ be lost to him forever.

(Not true, the ever optimist in him screams, even if Erik went through with it and left, waging an ideological war against Charles, against humankind, all would not have been lost. Charles would have kept chasing and trying and maybe Erik would have listened, eventually.)

“I love you,” Erik says, repeating himself tenfold this evening. Charles can feel his thoughts, the desperation, the agonizing sorrow, and he is saying another apology with these three words.

“I love you too,” Charles returns quietly. Something funny about the exoticness of the atmosphere, of the slowly cooling franticness and frenzy of this day, makes Charles want Erik, the desire curling deep in his belly. He wants to burn all over, too hot, and to be gasping against Erik’s skin and wants to have intense sex in this foreign country he will try to never return to after tonight, up until the sun rises.

But Charles knows they can’t. For one the walls are _too thin_ and there has been enough revelations and shock for one day for everyone (even if they know the two of them are together, they don’t need to be subjected to the sounds of Charles and Erik’s desperate sex as they fall apart at the edges, just for one night, before putting themselves back together, back in charge, for tomorrow). For another, Charles knows there are dangers that Hank worries about, now that – now that this situation has made itself known.

They can’t risk it. This discovery has brought Erik back to him and may bring him even more in the future, he won’t be careless and throw it away, it deserves more from him than that.

The way Erik’s fingers stroke along the skin of his side, gentle and reassuring and still seeped with apologies, tell Charles that he thinks the same thing.


End file.
